Facts from public registers, for the moment before you pay.

Why we built it

A deposit for a kitchen, a staircase, an extension or a car is often the largest sum a person sends to a company they have never met, and the least protected. Everything needed to judge that company is public and free — but spread across half a dozen registers, written for accountants, and never lined up against the website that asked for the money. We line it up.

What a report is, and is not

A report states facts and comparisons between named sources: who the legal entity is, how long it has existed, what its accounts show, whether the website’s claims match the register, how long the domain has existed, whether anyone has reviewed the firm. It gives one of three answers — green, amber or red — under rules published on the methodology page, a Record strength score out of 100, deposit guidance for the trade, and three questions to ask.

It is not a scam list, a rating or a guarantee. We never call a business a scam. A business can request a correction of a wrong fact and add context; it cannot change a fact, a date or a verdict, and it cannot pay to. A red flag is always shown free.

How we make money

The free check identifies the company and shows serious warning signs. The full report — every claim compared, directors, accounts, deposit guidance and the questions — is paid for by the person running the check: £14.99 for one, less in packs. Businesses pay nothing: the verified badge is free, and corrections are free. We do not sell leads, we do not run advertising, and we do not take money from the businesses we report on.

Where the data comes from

• Companies House (Open Government Licence v3.0): company records, officers, owners, accounts, Gazette notices
• HMRC: VAT number validation
• Nominet and RDAP: domain registration data
• Internet Archive: how long a website has existed
• Google: Business profile and review counts
• The business’s own website: what it says about itself, quoted verbatim

Every line in a report names its source. If a source is unavailable, the report says so and the verdict is capped — a gap in our data never becomes a mark against a business.

Who we are

SafeToPay is built and run in the UK by a small team with a background in bespoke manufacturing — the trade where 50% deposits are normal and where we watched customers pay them on trust. Company details are in the footer. To reach us: contact page.